Broken Mirror
by MakiZanaX13
Summary: Genderbend AU There's a world where the armours never existed; a world where the Ronins live normal lives. Yet fate always seemed to have twisted ideas. Does that include one of them being a girl whose dark, tormented past could harm her? If so, who will free her from the chains that bind her very being? It's only a matter of time until everything begins to fall apart.


**Maki:** Hi everyone, this is me attempting to create a new RW fic centring on a female Ryo. Why? In case you haven't looked at my profile before gender bending is considered one of my top topics, especially on my favourite characters. Here being Ryo. Not to mention his name will be changed to something a little more feminine (even if Ryo is a unisex name); for what reason I don't know but please bear with it. Also don't be mad if I haven't gotten everyone in character, it's been ages since I last watched the anime! Then again if I got the time maybe I will go back to it :p

**WARNINGS: **Alternate Universe, Genderbend, Shonen-ai, OOCness, OCs, Mild cursing, violence and dark themes.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ronin Warriors. All rights are the property of Hajime Yatate and Sunrise.

**Summary:** Genderbend AU There's a world where the armours never existed; a world where the Ronins live normal lives. Yet fate always seemed to have twisted ideas. Does that include one of them being a girl whose dark, tormented past could harm her? If so, who will free her from the chains that bind her very being? It's only a matter of time until everything begins to fall apart.

* * *

**Broken Mirror**

**Chapter 1: A Heart of Glass**

_A heart is fragile. One touch can shatter it whole, dispersing into shards of nothingness._

_Who'll be the one to mend it back together again?_

_This is where light and dark will clash in a desperate struggle to maintain the heart's balance on the line of life and death._

The warm, afternoon breeze engulfed the streets of Toyama one clear day. At the same time two boys, seemingly at the age of 16, were strolling in a nearby forest clearing; the first that had blue hair and eyes sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "Man, Cye sure knew how to pick the perfectplace for a hangout."

The second boy with blonde hair and violet eyes gave a reassuring smile. "Oh c'mon Rowen, give it a rest. He worked his butt off to organize this for us before we go back to school once the holidays are over."

"And that's where I need to be studying; I still have that calculus paper to finish."

"It's not due until next Tuesday. You're a prime example of a study holic." He muttered the last sentence.

Rowen titled his head. "Hmm, did you say something Sage?"

"N-Nothing." Sage glanced around. "We should be close. He did mention to meet at the shore up ahead. Let's hope Kento didn't scoff _all_ the food."

"Yeah, his stomach is a bottomless pit."

"I heard that!"

He instantly flinched. "Speak of the devil…" Turning to the direction of that voice, there he was – another boy about their age who was pretty big in size with ash-blue hair. "Hey Kento!"

Kento huffed and marched over. "I do believe I heard a certain _someone_ calling my stomach a 'bottomless pit'!"

"Whoa cool your jets buddy, I wasn't being snarky at all. It was a compliment."

"Compliment my ass; take that back!"

"Alright, both of you enough!" Sage barked.

"He started it!" Kento complained, pointing a shaky finger at Rowen.

"I don't care who started it. Besides Kento you need to calm down, arguing won't get you anywhere."

Rowen chuckled half-heartedly. "Leave it to the all mighty Sage Date to resolve a dispute. Anyhow Kento, you know where Cye is?"

The ash-blue-haired boy pouted. "Fine... he's over where we were supposed to meet. I think you know that."

"Right let's go." Sage ordered. The trio continued prior finally coming upon the bank. "Over here!" an Australian accent caught their attention; it belonged to a teen with shoulder length brown hair waving his arm in the air. "Cye."

Said boy smiled whilst running up. "Long time no see."

Rowen sniffed the air, getting a familiar scent. "Isn't that-"

"Food!" Kento immediately bolted for the basket on top of the blanket lying on the ground. He elevated the lid and grinned. "Hallelujah!"

Sage shared a look with Cye, he shrugged. "I brought extra, just in case."

"Is that so?" He suddenly stiffens, feeling a chill run down his spine. _Someone's here._ The Date heir averts from his friends for a scan. _Nothing; but why did I-_

"Sage?"

Sage breaks from his train of thoughts, sensing the others staring at him. "You okay dude?" asked Kento, munching on a burger.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine… listen, start without me. I'm going somewhere first."

"Are you sure? Don't you want someone to go with you?" asked Rowen.

"No it's okay, besides I can handle myself." Sage replied.

"Suit yourself." Kento said between bites. "Just don't complain when all the food's gone."

"Didn't I tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" Cye chided.

"First Rowen now you, what is this? 'Pick on Kento day'?"

Sage nodded. "Don't worry I'll be sure to remember." He then sauntered away, towards where he presumed the sensation came from. Since Sage is by himself it was much quieter compared to being with his friends. As he did so he had the time to take in the scenery; the sound of birds chirping alongside the rustling foliage and the gentle flow from the water. _This place is really beautiful. I wonder how Cye found it._

Next he stopped all of a sudden, eyes widening; not far from where he was is a rabbit feeding on food off a girl's hand. The girl herself was about Sage's age with slight tan skin, black hair at a similar length to Cye's own, and the most astounding tiger blue eyes he'd ever seen. For casual garb she is dressed in a red tank top, denim shorts and white sneakers. Sage stepped forward only to let the rabbit's head jerk aloft then frighteningly hid behind the girl that stood, glaring at him.

Sage raised his hands calmly. "Easy. I don't want to hurt you."

She ignored him. "Who are you?" it came out in a foreboding tone.

"My name's Sage-"

"Get out." It's more demanding.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Why?"

"My partner doesn't like people trespassing on this land. He thinks your poachers trying to harm the wildlife here."

"Well maybe your 'partner' made a mistake. Do I look like one to you?" Sage started again but froze when she pulled out a sword.

"I know how to fight."

"But-"

"Don't make me repeat myself." She warned, poising the sword's tip at his neck.

Sage gulped slightly at seeing the glint at the tip of the sword; he sighs in defeat then turns around, heading back to the others. Ensued by his departure the girl dropped her sword and picked up the rabbit to hug it. "It's okay. He's gone now." She stared at the route Sage went. _Sage huh… interesting._

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"Yo Sage, there you are." The blonde noticed it is Rowen calling him. "Guys I found him!"

Sage raised an eyebrow, _they were looking for me?_ Soon Cye and Kento joined. "Where've you been? You were gone quite a while."

"We were worried, so we went looking for you." Cye added.

He didn't reply, okay that's a little worrisome.

"Sage?"

Sage blinked hastily. "Huh? O-Oh I'm alright." _That girl… just who was she?_

Kento grinned. "Now with that over, let's play a game of volleyball shall we?" He gestured the ball he grabbed from somewhere.

* * *

It was a bright Monday morning. Being Monday also meant it is a school day, bearing in mind that the holidays recently ended. Though unlike most teens one is still asleep; the teen in fact happened to be the same girl who had a brief encounter with Sage several days ago. She lived in the lone cabin within the forest.

She groaned the minute a constant beeping sound filled her bedroom; shifting to her side, she stretched out a hand from under the covers of her bed, blindly rummaging for the alarm clock sitting on top of the bedside table. Eventually finding the switch she pressed it to turn the alarm clock off and abruptly came to a sitting position. "Okay, I'm up. I'm up."

Flinging the sheets off she got out and began changing into her newly bought school uniform, which belonged to Toyama High. And the second she finished with the necessary requirements she briefly went outside then came back towards the small lounge room holding a stem with pink magnolias attached and gently placed on a table right in front of a photo frame which showed a picture of her as a young child clinging happily to the hem of a woman's dress along with a man next to them.

A single tear drop rolled down her cheek from watery eyes then rubbed them dry. "Goodbye… I'm going now." She grabbed her school satchel earlier until leaving.

* * *

Several days passed since Sage meet the mysterious girl and he clearly forgotten about it… almost. There were still memories of her pointing a sharp sword at him, threatening Sage to leave. Yet there's something about the girl that made him feel uneasy. Particularly those captivating, rare tiger blue eyes. At the current moment the majority of Toyama High students were inside their classrooms once the bell for homeroom went off not long ago; seeing how both he and Cye were in the same class, their teacher Ms. Harada is absent for the time being. One student, a friend Sage recognised as Alan Fukuda, from the basketball club, came to Cye. "Mornin' Cye, you know where Ms. Harada is?"

The latter shook his head. "Sorry I haven't seen her since school started."

Alan groaned and rubbed a hand through dark brown locks. "Great, on the first day back too. What's with these teachers?"

"Beats me."

Then the door slides open, causing all students to sit in their chairs as Ms. Harada waltzed in, placing her equipment on the desk and clasped her hands together. "Well I hope you all had a fantastic holiday everyone. Because I believe you'll work extra hard this semester."

She smiled after they responded. "Excellent; anyways before we begin, I like to introduce a new student." Eventually the whole classroom went abuzz, mostly to the fact on this student. A lot of the girls were going on about if the student was either a cute or hot boy, same with the male half except it was the opposite; though Sage and Cye were the only few who kept quiet, still slightly surprised considering having no news lately. Ms. Harada placed two fingers in her mouth and blew out a loud enough whistle to silence the class. "That's much better."

She turned towards the door. "You can come in now," the class remained inaudible prior when the ricochet of footsteps reached inside. As the person came in, Sage looked up with a small gasp. It was the same girl from back then. Cye glanced from his desk at the far back left of the room, noticing the unusual expression on Sage's face. "What's up with him?" the brunette mumbled.

"Don't be shy, go ahead and tell your name." Ms. Harada coaxed the girl who appeared hesitant.

She nodded then walked a little further. "Uh hello… m-my name is R-Reika, Reika Sanada." Reika bowed. "Pleased to meet you."

Reika began to fidget uncomfortably as whispers went about through the classroom. Ms. Harada's eyebrow twitched then whistled again. "Alright, let's see if we can find you a seat Ms. Sanada." Her amber orbs scanned the classroom to find an available desk, which luckily found a vacant one right next to Sage.

"I think I can see one next to Mr. Date." That earned her annoyed protests from nearly _every_ female student, but Ms. Harada ignored them. "Mr. Date? Mr. Date, can you stand and show Ms. Sanada her seat."

The blonde nodded and did so. However when Reika moved over, he reached out his hand in a greeting manner. "I didn't realise you came to this school. I'm Sage, but I guess you already know that." Reika said nothing and sat down in an instant. Sage smiled softly then followed suite.

He heard a disgusted noise coming from one of the girls in the front. "Did you see that? She totally ignored him!"

"Please don't start. You want Ms. Harada to hear you?" another rebuked.

Someone managed a fake cough, grabbing everyone's attention to Ms. Harada. "Now I have your attention, shall we begin?"

She pushed her glasses against the bridge of her nose. Well this is certainly going to be one interesting school term.

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Reika walked out of her math class once the bell for dismissal rang, so far her first time at Toyama High has gone quite smoothly and that she hadn't seen Sage after homeroom yet. As she breezed through the hallway outside to her next class, a group of girls in her year approached her. The beautiful girl in the centre who appeared taller than Reika by a couple of inches with long, luscious dark emerald hair and bluish-grey eyes strode in front of her, her face expressing a dark look. "I hear that you're the new transfer student, Reika Sanada? I'm Hisae Yoshimatsu. Let me ask you something; you're in the same class as someone named Sage Date, are you not?"

Reika glared. "What's it too you?"

"I'll give you a fair warning Sanada; stay away from him. He'll be mine and no one else's."

"How so? I don't see your name written on him." She said.

Someone in the crowd giggled, "Owned," only to get whacked upside the head. Hisae glowered. "You'll regret to ever cross me Sanada."

"Because you think I'll hurt your precious _boyfriend_? 'Sides, it's not like I care." Reika suddenly leaped out of the way when Hisae attempted to hit her. "Whoa you really need to work on your reflexes there, could've hurt someone."

"Hisae, stop! We don't really want to make a scene here." One girl from her group indicated the now increasing herd.

"Yeah girl calm down!" Another exclaimed while Reika avoided one more strike. In the crowd Kento happened to witness the event between both girls.

"Uh oh, looks like Hisae found someone new to mess with."

"And it doesn't look good; should we inform a teacher?" Kento shook his head and continued watching, slightly interested at the display. Soon Reika landed gracefully to a nearby building, she gazed at Hisae briefly and went into the building. Finally the whole crowd disappeared; realising that his next class was in the same building, Kento ran in sanguinely to catch Reika for God knows what reason.

However as he tried, Kento lost her. "Rats, she got away." _But what made me do this? She sure is one strange girl… maybe I can ask Cye about her._

Meanwhile Reika was nearing the room to her next class but suddenly stopped, pain surging inside of her; she whimpered and ran to the closest vacant bathroom, shutting the door in the process once in. Reika dropped to the floor, wrapping her slender arms around her legs into a hug and buried her face on her knees as painful memories began to flash in her head.

"_Have enough yet freak?" There was a harsh tug on her hair followed by a slap sending her sprawling to the ground, she groans as a kick hits her abdomen, fresh tears swelling up. "It appears we still have to teach you a lesson on discipline!" _

...

"_Reika sweetie, please remember that you're a special child. Don't forget."_

_Gun shots… blood splattering everywhere._

"_No, mommy! Daddy!"_

_...  
_

_Snow continued to fall as her body lies on the ground. Tears streamed down her face. "Someone… anyone… save me."_

No more… please… no more.

* * *

**Maki:** Yeah… uh sorry if gender bending is not really a particular popular subject amongst the Ronin Warriors category but like I said, it's one of my favourite topics and that this idea is recent, so here.

Now some are probably wondering why I chose Toyama as the location setting whilst everyone knows that the Ronins live in different areas around Japan; let's just say I want it to be a place for everyone to live close to each other. After all Toyama _is_ the main setting for the anime XD

As for pairings the main couple will eventually be Sage/Reika (in this case Ryo) since I love this pairing! There will definitely be others like Anubis/Mia and Rowen/Kayura (yes the warlords will show but much later) though they will be minor. Also just be aware that Reika will be more emotional in comparison to Ryo for a number of reasons.

Well that covers the gist of it. And for the sake of this awesome old-school anime, please review. Just remember that flames won't be accepted but grammar assistance would.


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